Glory of the Seas (clipper)

Glory of the Seas was a clipper ship launched in 1869. She was the last merchant sailing vessel built by Donald McKay.[1][3][4]

Glory of the Seas
History
United States
Name:	Glory of the Seas
Owner:	Donald McKay (original)
Builder:	Donald McKay of East Boston, MA
Launched:	November 1869
Fate:	Burned for her metal May 13, 1923
Notes:	The last merchant sailing vessel built by McKay[1]
General characteristics
Class and type:	Medium clipper
Tons burthen:	2102 tons
Length:	250 feet (76.2 m)
Beam:	44 feet (13.4 m)
Depth of hold:	28.5 feet (8.7 m)
Sail plan:	Double topsails, single topgallants and royals, and main skysail[2] ; all sails totaled "about 8000 yards of cotton duck"[1]

Her voyages

On her maiden voyage, Glory of the Seas sailed from New York in February 1870 under the command of Captain John Geit. She anchored at San Francisco on June 13 after a passage of 120 days. From there she sailed to Liverpool, England, under Captain William Chatfield. McKay then sold Glory to J. Henry Sears of Boston, who replaced Captain Chatfield with Josia Nickerson Knowles.

Details of her time between 1870 and 1885 are incomplete, but she "ran between New York and British ports and San Francisco almost exclusively" during those years.[1] She did make a fast voyage from New York to San Francisco between October 13, 1873 and mid-January, 1874 (see the table and note). In 1875 she set the record of 35 days for a passage from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia. According to McKay[1], until 1885 under Captain McLaughlin Glory carried general cargo from New York to San Francisco and wheat from there to Britain, and was nearly wrecked in a storm when arriving in Britain in 1880. The Bruzelius timetable[2] (below) differs and does not mention the 1880 event. Both agree that she was laid up at San Francisco between December 1882 and February 1885.

Glory of the Seas in Boston. McKay appears at the center of the photograph wearing a top hat.

After 1885 Glory of the Seas spent the rest of her long life on the Pacific coast, for a time sailing between San Francisco and Puget Sound and occasionally to Alaska.[1] In March 1906 she was sold in San Francisco for conversion to a barge but was repaired after the April earthquake and "put under sail again".[2] Under new owners in 1911, she was again stripped of her masts and converted to a floating fish cannery and then to a floating cold storage plant. On May 13, 1923, she was beached near Seattle and burned to recover her iron and copper.

Glory's known voyages are tabulated below. Entries are from Bruzelius unless noted otherwise; disagreements or ambiguities are individually cited. City names are as they were at the time.

Origin	Depart	Destination	Arrive	Days	Captain
New York	February 13[2] or 14[1], 1870	San Francisco	June 13, 1870	120 (see note)[notes 1]	John Geit
San Francisco	July 30, 1870	Liverpool[1] or Queenstown, Ireland[2]		112	William Chatfield
St. Johns (see note)[notes 2]	May 13, 1871	Liverpool		21	William Chatfield (?)
Cardiff, Wales	August 19, 1871	San Francisco	December 16, 1871	120	Josiah Nickerson Knowles
San Francisco	February 7, 1872	Liverpool	May 28, 1872	112	Knowles (?)
Liverpool	July 27, 1872	San Francisco	November 25, 1872	119	Knowles (?)
San Francisco	January 15, 1873	Liverpool	May 23, 1873	128	Knowles (?)
New York	October 13, 1873	San Francisco	January 16[2] or 18[1], 1874	96[2] or 94[1] (see note)[notes 3]	Knowles (?)
San Francisco	February 26, 1874	Liverpool	June 23, 1874	117	Knowles (?)
Liverpool	August 13, 1874	San Francisco	December 22, 1874	131	Knowles (?)
San Francisco	March 14, 1875	Sydney, Australia	April 19, 1875	35	Knowles (?)
Sydney	June 4, 1875	San Francisco	July 26, 1875	53	Knowles (?)
San Francisco	October 7, 1875	Liverpool	February 17, 1876	133	Knowles (?)
Liverpool	May 2, 1876	San Francisco	August 23, 1876	114	Knowles (?) or Daniel S. McLaughlin[2] (see note)[notes 4]
San Francisco	October 24, 1876	Liverpool	February 3, 1877	103	McLaughlin
Liverpool	April 2, 1877	San Francisco	August 23, 1877	144	McLaughlin
San Francisco	November 9, 1877	Liverpool	February 24, 1878	107	McLaughlin
Liverpool	April 27, 1878	Oakland, California	September 29, 1878	153	McLaughlin
San Francisco	1879	Queenstown (for orders), then Le Havre, France			McLaughlin
New York	1880	San Francisco			McLaughlin
San Francisco	May 29, 1880	Queenstown	September 28, 1880	120	McLaughlin
Cardiff	December 27, 1880	San Francisco	May 3, 1881	129	McLaughlin
San Francisco	July 11, 1881	Le Havre via Valparaíso, Chile	February 17, 1882	220	McLaughlin
New York	July 2, 1882	San Francisco	November 7, 1882	128	McLaughlin
Laid up, San Francisco	December 1882		February 1885
San Francisco	February 22, 1885	Liverpool	June 19, 1885	119	Joshua S. Freeman
Liverpool	1885	San Pedro, California		121	Freeman (?)

Artifacts

The figurehead of Glory of the Seas is a partially-clad female figure. It is pictured in a book, The Clipper Ships, which notes that it is in the collection of a private New York City club, India House.[5] The builder's half-model, four prints or paintings, and several relics are held by the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia.[6]

Notes

1. February 13 to June 13 is 120 days, so the McKay date is wrong.
2. Bruzelius does not specify which of the many cities named St. Johns, but the one in Newfoundland is likely.
3. Neither passage length matches the stated arrival date. January 16 is 95 days out and January 18 is 97.
4. McKay states that McLaughlin began as captain in 1879.

References

1. McKay, Richard C. (1928). Some Famous Sailing Ships and Their Builder Donald McKay. G.P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 322–327, 374, 376.
2. Lars Bruzelius (June 30, 1997). "Glory of the Seas". Retrieved July 23, 2019.
3. Clark, Arthur H. (1910). The Clipper Ship Era. II. G.P. Putnam's Sons. pp. 258, 369.
4. Howe, Octavius T.; Matthews, Frederick C. (1926). America Clipper Ships 1833-1858. I, II. Marine Research Society. pp. 84, 714, 737.
5. Whipple, A.B.C. (1980). The Clipper Ships. Time-Life Books. pp. 62.
6. "Glory of the Seas". Mariner's Museum, Newport News, Virginia. Retrieved July 22, 2019.

See also

List of clipper ships